Well, I finally made it to the 30th and final day of my photo a day challenge. I again found myself out at night to make my exposures, this time at a neighborhood park near where I grew up. The real reason I chose to visit this park to take photos is because there is a beautiful Gratitude and Honor Memorial set up there for the fallen heroes of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. And seeing as how the date on this night was September 11th, I thought it would be fitting to photograph the memorial.

Here is a shot of just one section of one of the panels on this memorial. There are 20 panels in all - each one filled with names of soldiers killed in combat. As of this writing there are 6,714 names engraved in the Northwood Gratitude and Honor Memorial (per www.northwoodmemorial.com). If you carefully review the names in the photo below, it's chilling to note some of the ages of these soldiers.

War Memorial - Irvine, CAWednesday, September 11, 2013 at 7:26pm
Click to Enlarge

The panels are glossy, so it was difficult to avoid reflections clouding the names. I first tried to get my own reflection out of the frame, but then I decided to let my outline show in the composition. I felt that my silhouette might serve as a reminder that these names aren't simply names on a plaque but names that represent real flesh-and-blood people fallen in the line of duty.

If you're in the area, I strongly recommend visiting this memorial.

After taking this photo of the memorial, I decided to venture around the park in search of other shots to finish off my final roll of film. I eventually found my way to the back of the park where I fixed my camera on a tree and lamppost with an interesting backdrop of silhouetted rooflines. Much like the photo from yesterday's blog entry, I think this shot of the lamppost is going to speak much more to me than anyone else. As I continue to mature in my photography, I'm realizing that more than capturing moments or subjects, I really want to capture "vibes" and emotions - those deeply-ingrained feelings that can't be articulated in words. This image of the lamppost and tree, I feel, captures a "vibe" that I can't articulate. I don't know if you'll get that same vibe from it, but that's what I like about it.

This 30-day photo a day challenge has been a huge growing experience for me. It helped me discover new approaches to photography and how to find photos in situations and subjects I wouldn't have otherwise thought to photograph. It helped me reach a point where I know now what to do next. I have project ideas sprouting up in my head left and right. The creative juices are flowing and I know where to go from here. This challenge certainly served its purpose.

Read the backstory on this Photo A Day Challenge here. See previous days here.

There is a recently-built road in the hills behind my old high school here in Irvine. This road will soon be lined by tract housing, but as of now, it's empty. I love it here. Without any buildings in the way, you get a great high-up view of the city below and the whole stretch of asphalt feels quiet and secluded. I especially love visiting this road at night. With nothing but the streetlights lining the road to illuminate the dark, you can really feel like you're out in the middle of nowhere.

For day 29 of my photo a day challenge, I decided to visit this deserted road to make my photograph. I had a pre-visualized composition in mind of just a single streetlight rising up the center of the frame with a completely black background. One of my favorite things in the world is the way artificial lighting in a nighttime settings simultaneous creates some of the harshest contrast and some of the softest tonal gradations you'll find anywhere. And the resulting simple shadows look awesome on black and white film.

With my Mamiya RZ67 loaded up with Ilford Delta 100 film, I found a streetlight on a relatively level stretch of the road, set up my tripod directly across from it, and metered my exposure at 1/4 of a second at f/4. I chose a relatively wide aperture because there was no need for a big depth of field here. My subjects were all lined up on the same plane, all about equidistant from me, and the background had no detail to it in the darkness. This wide aperture allowed me to use a decently quick shutter speed in this dim lighting. Still had to use a tripod, though. The way I arrived at exactly f/4 is because of the way it rendered the light itself. See, small apertures turn pinpoints of light into stars. The smaller the aperture, the more pronounce the star. Here, I wanted some faint light rays "shooting" out from the light, but I didn't want a full-fledged multi-pointed star. With the help of my depth of field preview button, I found that f/4 gave just the right amount of starburst.

Strangely enough, this is one of my favorite photos from the entire photo a day challenge. It may not mean much to the average viewer, but it means something to me.

Read the backstory on this Photo A Day Challenge here. See previous days here.

For day 28 of my photo a day challenge I found myself at the San Diego Zoo. I would have loved to shoot medium format in keeping with my 3 rules for this challenge, but it just wasn't practical to use 6x7 at the zoo. So, this was one of the few days where I broke my rule of only using 120 size film. Instead, I opted for the much lighter weight and much more versatile 35mm. This was also a day when I broke my rule of only 4 photos. Photographing wildlife is tricky and 4 frames just isn't enough! I needed the full 36 exposures on the roll.

I actually wrote a blog post about this trip back in September. That entry has details on my settings along with several other photos from the shoot. Check that out here.

Read the backstory on this Photo A Day Challenge here. See previous days here.

It's funny what a deadline will make you do. Here is a photo of my fridge. Why? Because it was 10:45 at night and I'd yet to take a photo of the day for my photo a day challenge. My lady and I had just returned from a long day out on account of it being my girlfriend's birthday. The day was nearly done, the light was long gone, we were ready to turn in, and I couldn't yet check that box next to "take a photo" on my daily "to-do" list.

Strangely enough, I wasn't stressed about this. Normally I start to stress a little bit when cutting it this close on a deadline, even if the deadline is self-imposed. I knew there was little left to photograph in my apartment, especially at this hour, and time was running out. But I guess by day 27 of this challenge I was starting to realize that there are photos to be found anywhere at any time, you just need to get a little creative.

I looked around my dark kitchen for something to shoot. Then it hit me: the inside of the fridge has a nice bright light source. Why not use that to make my exposure? So I opened the fridge and set my camera on the counter across from it. Thanks to my trusty granite countertop, a tripod wouldn't be necessary. The natural clutter on the shelves added plenty of interest to the shot and required no rearranging. I metered the scene at 1/60 of a second at f/2.8. It's nothing I'd frame on my wall, but I got my photo and I realized we were low on milk. Win-win.

Read the backstory on this Photo A Day Challenge here. See previous days here.

Tess's favorite place in our home (other than my lap) is under our bed. Even when I'm home, she chooses to stay under the bed. I don't know why. She's not under there because she's scared or anything like that. I also know that she enjoys my company. But I guess she's just a lone wolf, as it were. One of the few things that'll make her come out from under the bed without any coaxing is if she hears a wrapper crinkling in the kitchen.

On this day 26 of my photo a day challenge, I had just returned home from work and decided to knock out my daily photo before heading out for the night. As I grabbed my gear from my closet, I saw Tess waiting patiently under the bed for my girlfriend to come home from work. I knew this would be my photo.

With dim lighting, my exposure came out to 1/8 of a second at f/2.8. The 1/8 shutter speed would be far too slow to handhold, so I let my camera rest on the ground. But even with camera shake out of the equation, I'd need Tess to not flinch or move at all during the slow shutter. So patiently I waited for her to freeze as she concentrated on the doorway off to the right. She was listening for my girlfriend's footsteps coming towards the front door. She knew they'd be there soon enough. I focused quickly, locked up the mirror, then triggered the shutter with a cable release. Before I could fire off a second safety shot, she lunged out from under the bed at the sound of the front door opening. Good thing this frame came out sharp...

Read the backstory on this Photo A Day Challenge here. See previous days here.